Determination of efficiency of condensing plants



Nov. '2 1926. 1,605,779-

H. RISSMANN I DETERMINATION OF EFFICIENCY OF CONDENSING PLANTS Filed Sept. 2s 25 76% A TT ORNEY.

Patented Nov. 2, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HANS RISSMANN, OF IBOCHUM, GEQMANY, ASSIGNOB F ONE-HALF 'IO GOTTDANK I4. I KOTHNY, 0F STRAFFORD, PENNSYLVANIA. I

DETERMINATION OF EFFICIENCY OFCONDENSING PLANTS. Application filed September 28, 1925, Serial No. 58,120 and in Germany November 14, 1924.

to the determination various forms it may take, reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which: 7

Fig. 1 is an illustration of my system as applied to a surfacecondensen Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view of a similar It is'the object of my invention to detersystem as a plied to a'jet condenser. mine the efliciency of steam condensing Under i eal conditions, or under condiplants and the like continuously or from tions leaving out of consideration certain time to time, whereby, to maintain high, variables, unity or perfect efiiciency is ateflicienoy under varying conditions, the operator of a plant may suitably control or regulate the auxiliaries suitably to control the rate of flow of cooling water through the condenser, and to control the ejectors or other air pumps which remove air from the condenser to maintain desired vacuum theirin, in accordance with changes of load upon the plant.

In accordance with my invention, the efficiency of the condensing plant or the like is determined by taking into consideration not only the temperature of the saturated steam or vapor entering the condenser and My invention relates of the efiiciency of heat-exchange apparatus or plants, and more particularly of apparatus or condensers for condensing steam 5 exhausted from the engines or turbines of a steam power plant.

ing saturated steam is equal to the temperature of the cooling water adjacent its discharge from the condenser.

However, due to practical considerations, such as variations in load upon the plant, involving varying quantities of' cooling water, and such as variations of temperature of entering cooling water, I have found that the determination of efiiciency should take into account not only the temperature of the saturated steam entering the condenser, but also the temperatures of the cooling water as it enters and leaves the the temperature of the cooling water adcondenser. v

jace-nt its discharge, but also the tempera- The efiiciency E may be expressed as fol ture of the cooling water as it enters the conlows:

denser; and more particularly, the efliciency J td is indicated by the ratio of the change of 1171 2 1 0 temperature of the cooling water in the con- E m=m denser to the difference between the temperature of the steam entering the condenser and She temperature of the lcooling1 water at in which: or a jacent its entry into t econ enser.

a5 :Furtherffiin accordance with my dinveng 'a of Steam or "P to be tion the e ciency may be directly rea upon the bhart or scale" of an indicating instruthe temperature or 11 gg of ment comprising two galvanometers whose deflecting pointers or needles intersect, the deflections of one of the galvanometers being dependent upon or proportional to the diiference between the temperatures of the cooling water at the inlet and'discharge from the condenser, and the deflections of the other galvanometer being dependent "upon or proportional to the difierence between the temperature of the steamientering the condenser and the temperature of the cooling water as it enters the condenser. My invention resides in a system of the character hereinafter described and claimed.

For \an understanding of my invention, and for an illustration of several of the the steam or vapor to be con t the temperature of the cooling water adjacent its entry into the condenser.

t the temperature of the cooling water adjacent its discharge from the condenser,

all of which may be expressed in the metric the cooling water adjacent its entry into tained when the temperature of the enterthe condenser. This quotient is the ratio of the same quantities, and this ratio indicates the etficiency of the plant and may be determined by a system or apparatus of the 5 character hereinafter described.

Three temperature-responsive devices, as resistance thermometers, thermocouples or equivalents, are subjected, respectively, to the temperature of the entering cooling )0 water, the temperature of the cooling water adjacent the discharge from the condenser, and to the temperature or" the steam in the steam space of the condenser. A galvanometer such as a DArsonval or permanent magnet field galvanometer, having two coils disposed at right angles to each other and movable as a unit in the field, has its coils related, respectively, to the temperature-responsive devices subjected to the temperatures of the entering and discharging cooling water; and another similar galvanometer has its coils related, respectively, to the temperature-responsive devices-subjected to the temperatures of the entering cooling water and of the steam in the steam space of the condenser. The pointers or needles of these galvanometers, movable with their coil. systems, sweep across a chart or scale, and at their intersection there is given upon the scale the then efficiency as expressed by the aforesaid ratio.

Referring to Fig. 1, C is a surface condenser whose cooling water inlet is at a and whose cooling water out-let or discharge is at Z). The steam or vapor to be condensed enters at the steam inlet (Z and the condensate is collected in and withdrawn from the hot well 6.

In the example illustrated, the temperature-responsive devices are resistance thermometers T subjected to the temperature of the cooling water at or adjacent the inlet a; 'l subjected to the temperatures'of the mooling water at or adjacent its discharge 6;

and Ta?) disposed in the steam space of the condenser, where the steam is saturated and is about to condense into water. A battery or common source of current B is con nccted in circuit with these several resistance thermometers, and the galvanometers G and G the former having the crossed coils and g in circuit, respectively, with the thermometer resistances T and T and opposing each other, and the latter having the crossed coils and in circuit, respectively, with the thermometer resistances T and Tel. and opposing each other.

Secured in fixed relation to and deflected by the coil system 9 of galvanometer G is its pointer or needle N co-act-ing with the scale S, whose readings or markings are differences of temperature of the cooling water adjacent its entry and disc-hargefrom the condenser. Similarly, the pointer or 1 there is obtained the quotient or ratio aforesaid, representing the efliciency of the condensing plant.

The two co-acting galvanometers G and G each of the crossed coil or' ohmmeter type, constitutes such a quotient or ratio meter utilizable by so positioning the galvanometer systems that their pointers N and N sWee across each other or intersect, the point 0 intersection X varying from time to time with variations of the several temperatures involved. In the space between the two scales S and S may be a chart or scale having a series of lines or markings L, L-- ete., constituting read ings of different magnitudes of efliciency, or of magnitudes of the aforesaid ratio or quotients. For example, when the intersection X of the pointers N and N lies directly over the line L, anywhere along that line, the efficiency is, for example, 0.1 or ten per cent. Similarly, when the intersecting point X lies over any of the other lines L etc., the corresponding efliciency is indicate In the position of the pointers N, N illustrated, the point X lies between the lines L and L and the efliciency is, for example, 0.5, or fifty per cent.

Referring to Fig. 2, J is a jet condenser into which the steam to be condensed ent'ers at d, the condensing water enters at a, and the condensed steam and condensing water collect in the barometric column K, from which it is withdrawn in well known manner. The air pump or vacuum-producing means. is connected at o. In this case again the galvanometers, scales and temperatureresponsive devices are correlated as above described in connection with Fig. 1. The thermometer resistance T is again subjected to the temperature of the entering'cooling or condensing water; thermometer resistance T is subjected to the temperature of the 15 mixture of condensate and condensing water, and the thermometer resistance Td is subjected to the temperature of the entering steam to be condensed.

While in the case of a jet condenser the temperature of the condensate or condensed steam is not that of the temperatureof the steam to be condensed entering at d, but rather takes approximately the same temperature as the outgoing cooling water, the 125 efiiciency may nevertheless be indicated by an instrument of the character described,

particularly since the etiiciency depends upon the same quotient or ratio as aforesaid,

though the factor J d/taidoes' not enter into 1 the relation, and since it does not appear in the final quotient or ratio of the equation hereinbefore given, the efliciency is with reasonable exactitude or accuracy indicated by accordingly controllable by him, u on o'bservation of the efficiency, by suitab y regulating the condenser auxiliaries, as, for example, the cooling water pump, the vacuumproducing means or air pump, and the like.

What I claim is:

1. In a system of the character described, the combination with acondenser, of temperature-responsive devices subjected, respectively, to the temperature in the steam space of the condenser, to the temperature of the cooling water of said condenser adjacent the cooling water inlet, and to the tem perature of the outgoing coolin water, an indicating instrument controlled by a pair of'said temperature-responsive devices, and a second indicat ng instrument controlled by another pair of said temperature-responsive devices, said indicating instruments co-acting to effect an indication of the operation of the condenser.

2. in a system of the character described, the combination with a condenser, of temperature-responsive devices subjected, respectively, to the temperature in the steam space of the condenser, to the temperature of the cooling water of said condenser adj acent the cooling water inlet, and to the temperature of the outgoing cooling water, an ind cating instrument controlled by a pair of said temperature-responsive devices, a secon indicating instrument controlled by another pair of said temperature-responsive devices,

said indicating instruments co-acting to effect an indication of the operation of the condenser, said indicating instruments having pointers crossing each other, and a scale to be read at the intersection of said pointers. 3. in a system of the character described, the combination with a condenser, of temperature-responsive devices subjected, respectively, to the temperature in the steam space of the condenser, to the tem erature of the cooling water of said con enser adjacent the cooling water inlet, and to the tempera ture of the outgoing cooling water, an indicating instrument controlled by a pair of said temperature-responsive devices to efiect deflections dependent upon the diflerence between the temperatures of the outgoing and entering cooling water, instrument controlled by a diiierent pair of said temperature-responsive devicesto effect deflections dependent upon the difierence between the temperatures of the steam and the a second indicating entering cooling water, said instruments bemg correlated to 1ndicate the ratio of said temperature differences.

4. In a system of the character described, the combination with a condenser, of temperattire-responsive devices subjected, respectively, to the temperature .in the steam space of the condenser, to the temperature of the cooling water of'said condenser adjacent the cooling water inlet, and to the temperature of the outgoing cooling water, a galvanometer having crossed coils in circuit, respectively,with said first and second named tem erature-responsive devices, to eiiect defiections dependent upon tween the temperatures to which said temperature-responsive devices are subjected, and a second galvanometer having crossed coils in circuit, respectively, with said second and third temperature-responsive the difference bevices to effect deflections dependent upon the a difference between the temperatures to which said second and third temperatureresponsive devices are subjected.

5. In a system of the character described, the combination with a condenser, of temperature-responsive devices subjected, respectively,

space of the condenser, to the temperature of the cooling Water of said condenser ad a- 1 cent the cooling water inlet, and to the temperature of the outgoing cooling water, a galvanometer having crossed coils in circuit, respectively, with said first and second named temperature-responsive devices, to efi'ect deflections dependent upon the difi'erence between the temperatures to which said temperature-responsive devices are subjected, a second galvanometer having crossed coils in circuit, respectively, with said secd 0nd and third temperature-responsive devices to effect deflections dependent upon the dificrencc between the temperatures to which said second and third temperature-responsive devices are subjected, said galvanometers having pointers crossing each other, and a scale to be read at the intersection of said pointers.

6. In a system of the character described, the combination with a condenser,

ly, to the temperature in the steam space of the condenser, to the temperature of the 0001- ing water of said condenser adjacent the cooling water inlet, and to the temperature of the outgoing cooling water, an indicating instrument controlled jointly by the resistance thermometers subjected, respectively, to the temperatures of the entering and discharging cooling water, a second indicating instrument controlled jointly by the resistance thermometer subjected to the entering cooling water and the resistance thermometer subjected to the temperature in the steam space of the condenser, said instruments beof resistance thermometers subjected, respective.

llu

to the temperature in the steam iUil ing correlated to indicate the ratio of the temperature differences between the enterlng and discharging cooling Water and of the idicating instrument controlled by the temperature-responsive devices subjected, re spectively, to the temperature in the steam space of the condenser and the temperature of the cooling water adjacent the cooling water inlet, and a second indicatmg" instrument controlled by the temperature-respon 2 sive devices subjected, respectively, to the temperature of the cooling Water. adjacent the cooling Water inlet and the temperature' of the outgoing cooling Water, said indicating instruments co-actin toefi'ect an indica- -3' tion of the operation 0 the condenser.

8. In a system of the. character described,

the combination with a condenser, of tern-- perature-responsive devices subjected, re-

spectively, to the temperature in the steam space of the condenser, to the temperature of the cooling Water of said condenser adjacent the cooling water inlet, and to the temperature of the outgoing coolin 'water, an

indicating instrument controlled y the tern perature-rcsponsive devices subjected, respectively, to the temperature in the steam space of the condenser and the temperature of the cooling Water adjacent the cooling Water inlet, a second indicating instrument controlled by'the temperature-responsive devices subjected, respectively,

ing water inlet and the temperature of the outgoing cooling water, said indicating instruments co-acting to effect an indication of r the operation of the condenser, and scales associated with said first and second indicating instruments, for giving readings, respectivel of the differences of the temperatures to w ich said instruments are responsive.

H ms RISSMANN.

to the tempera- 'ture of the cooling water adjacent the cool- 

